Contents

Biography

Background

Viserys as a child before he went into exile.

Viserys is the second son and heir of King Aerys II Targaryen, the former ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. During Robert's Rebellion, after Viserys's older brother Rhaegar was killed at the Battle of the Trident, his father sent Viserys and his pregnant mother Queen Rhaella to safety on Dragonstone island. King Aerys was soon killed during the Sack of King's Landing along with Rhaegar's widowandchildren, and thus at the age of only five Viserys became the titular head of House Targaryen, though by this point the war was officially lost.[1] Not long afterwards, his mother died in childbirth, while the forces of Robert Baratheon closed in on the island. Before they could arrive, Viserys and his baby sister Daenerys were smuggled to safety in the Free Cities, across the Narrow Sea on the continent of Essos. Bereft of followers, Viserys spent the next 17 years traveling between the Free Cities trying to find new supporters for an attempt to retake the Iron Throne. At times, however, he was left literally begging for food and shelter, much less an army.[2][3]

Viserys claims the title of Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and refers to Robert Baratheon only as "the Usurper". After years spent fruitlessly wandering the Free Cities seeking military support to retake his throne, Viserys and Daenerys became guests of the powerful Magister Illyrio Mopatis of Pentos.

In the Free City of Pentos, across the Narrow Sea, Viserys and Daenerys Targaryen enjoy the hospitality of Magister Illyrio Mopatis. Viserys has arranged to wed Daenerys (whom he also calls "Dany") to Khal Drogo, the warlord of a Dothrakikhalasar of forty thousand warriors. In return, Drogo will give Viserys the manpower he needs to reclaim the Iron Throne. Viserys fondles a naked Daenerys before her bath, on the pretext of "seeing how much she has grown". Daenerys does not want to marry the Khal, but Viserys insists that she will.[4]
During a brief presentation at Illyrio's home Dany meets Drogo's approval.

Viserys kisses Daenerys on her forehead.

Dany then says that she just wants to go home, but Viserys says that he would let anyone do anything to her if it would mean gaining the Iron Throne.

Daenerys marries Drogo and a great celebration is held on the shore outside Pentos. Several Dothraki die in impromptu duels, which Illyrio says is a good sign: a Dothraki wedding without at least three deaths is considered a dull affair. The bride and groom receive many gifts, but for Dany two are particularly interesting. The first is a box containing three beautiful stones. According to Illyrio these are petrified dragon eggs from the Shadow Lands beyond Asshai. The second is a selection of books containing stories and songs from the Seven Kingdoms, given by Ser Jorah Mormont, an exiled knight of House Mormont. Ser Jorah swears fealty to Viserys as King and offers him his support and advice. For his gift, Drogo gives Daenerys a beautiful silver mare. Viserys instructs his sister to make Drogo happy before Drogo takes her away to consummate the union.[4]

Viserys decides to travel with Drogo's khalasar until the bargain is fulfilled. Jorah suggests that Viserys remain at Illyrio's manse but Viserys ignores the advice.[5] While traversing the western edge of the Dothraki sea, near Qohor, Daenerys orders the khalasar to halt.

Viserys threatens his sister.

Viserys is furious at Daenerys giving him orders and threatens her with a sword. Rakharo, her bodyguard, disarms Viserys and offers to kill him, but Daenerys spares his life. He is forced to walk rather than ride, a tremendous sign of weakness among the Dothraki. When even Ser Jorah will not take his side, Daenerys realizes that Viserys will never succeed in retaking Westeros. He could not lead an army, even if her husband gave him one. Daenerys becomes pregnant with Drogo's child.[6]
After his horse is taken away, the Dothraki derisively refer to him as Khal Rhaggat (Cart King) and Khal Rhae Mhar (Sorefoot King). The Dothraki feel that a man is only truly a man if he rides on his own horse: only the sick or elderly would ride in a cart, and only slaves walk for miles alongside a horde. That Viserys could not stop his horse being taken away is seen as utter humiliation by the Dothraki.[1]

Doreah and Viserys share a bath.

The khalasar reaches the Dothraki city of Vaes Dothrak. Viserys despises it as a city of sticks and mud huts and takes pleasure with Daenerys's handmaiden, Doreah. Doreah makes him unhappy when she asks him about the dragons and their extinction. Later, Daenerys sends Doreah to Viserys with an invitation to dinner. Enraged at what he perceives as another order, Viserys drags Doreah by her hair to Daenerys. He strikes Daenerys and rants about his superiority. Daenerys hits him in the face with a heavy metal belt, visibly shocking him, and warns him that the next time he raises his hands to her will be the last time he has hands.[7] Illyrio visits King's Landing to meet with the King's Master of Whisperers, Varys. Illyrio confirms that Drogo does eventually mean to honor the bargain to invade the Seven Kingdoms, but will not move until his son is born.[8]

Viserys grows increasingly agitated by Drogo's inaction and fears the Khal will renege on his promise. Realizing how the Dothraki people have come to love Daenerys makes him feel jealous and inadequate. He tries to steal Daenerys's dragon eggs so he can buy his own army, but Ser Jorah stops him. He accuses Jorah of having physical desires for Daenerys, but says he doesn't care.

A drunk Viserys later stumbles into Khal Drogo's tent during a feast, and demands to be seated in the front near Drogo, in a place of honor. With Ser Jorah translating, Drogo says that there is a place for him: in the back, with the children and old women. Viserys angrily insists that he is a king, and will be treated as such.

Khal Drogo addresses Viserys for the first time in the Common Tongue of Westeros, "You are no king." Furious, Viserys unsheathes his sword, too drunk and arrogant to heed Jorah's warning that brandishing a sword in the Dothraki holy city is punishable by death.

Viserys faces his coming death.

Defiant and undaunted, Viserys goes on to demand that he wants to leave immediately with the army he was promised, or else he will leave with his sister (who according to the custom of House Targaryen, should have been his wife, and whom he always thought of as his sexual property). He threatens to cut out Daenerys's unborn son and leave it for Drogo unless they leave at once and Drogo gives him what was promised: the crown of the Seven Kingdoms. The Khal coldly acknowledges Viserys's wishes (via Irri's translation) and promises him a "golden crown that men will tremble to behold".

Viserys is slain with molten gold.

Viserys, believing himself victorious, lowers his guard and is suddenly restrained by Qotho and another bloodrider. Drogo then melts several gold medallions from his belt in a nearby pot. Viserys yells "I am the dragon" and pleads for his life from Daenerys, but when Drogo looks to her, she silently nods. Drogo directly addresses Viserys once more in the Common Tongue, saying, "A crown for a king", and pours the molten gold onto Viserys's head as the promised "terrible golden crown", killing him for his impudence. Viserys dies in agony, and when his dead body slumps to the ground the solidified gold makes a resounding thud. Daenerys coldly remarks that "he was no dragon", as "fire cannot kill a dragon". With Viserys dead, Daenerys is now held by her supporters as the rightful (and last) Targaryen heir to the Iron Throne, although later events will reveal someone who may actually have a stronger claim.[1][9]

Viserys is mentioned by Daenerys saying that she knew he was a fool but he is - or rather was - the rightful heir to the Iron Throne. But Jorah Mormont dismisses this saying that if Daenerys cannot inherit the Throne, she can conquer it instead like her ancestors.

Daenerys mentions Viserys at a war council on Dragonstone. She claims that if Viserys had three dragons he would have invaded King's Landing already. She turns her attention to Varys and begin interrogating him over his actions when she and Viserys were in exile. She asks if his "little birds" told him that Viserys was cruel, stupid and weak.[11]

Daenerys tells Jon that both Viserion and Rhaegal were named for her deceased brothers.[12]

After being rescued in the mission Beyond the Wall, Jon refers to Daenerys as "Dany" when she is at his bedside. Amused, Daenerys remarks that nobody has referred to her as Dany since Viserys.[13]

Personality

Viserys was condescending, arrogant, and immoral. Much like Joffrey Baratheon, Viserys believed that people should obey him simply because of his birthright and would throw temper tantrums when he was not treated with the respect he thought he was owed, even though he did nothing to earn it. Viserys described his temper as "a dragon", but also referred to himself as such, thinking himself as one of the greatest Targaryens to have ever lived. Viserys's temper hopelessly outweighs his common sense, making him rash and reckless.

Viserys was also extremely self-deluded and believed himself to be a mighty warrior, like his brother Rhaegar Targaryen, even though he had never wielded a sword against an opponent in his life and didn't truly know the first thing about combat, strategy or warfare. When he was attacked by Dothraki, he did not fight back himself but instead tried to get others - such as Jorah Mormont - to do it for him.

Viserys was similarly as arrogant as his own father and neither could believe their allies would turn on them. For Aerys, he opened the gates of King's Landing to his old friend Tywin Lannister and his army, despite his remaining loyalists telling him it was a trap. This act of utter folly led to the Sack of King's Landing and his own death. For Viserys, he arrogantly believed that the Dothraki would never strike back at him for threatening their Khaleesi, and that he had the right to bare steel against them. Similarly, this belief cost Viserys his life.

In regards to his sister Daenerys, Viserys looked at her as his property to abuse or hand out to others whenever he pleased. As he said to her about her marriage to Khal Drogo, "We go home with an army. With Khal Drogo's army. I would let his whole tribe fuck you, all forty thousand men and their horses too, if that's what it took." Despite this, Viserys believes that she is still loyal to him and nobody else. As Khal Drogo was preparing to "crown" him, he begs for her to intervene, despite giving her absolutely no reason to do so. In fact, only moments before, he had threatened to cut her open with a sword during her pregnancy.

Daenerys believes Viserys could be good, due to him being kind and respectful to her once, but that the loss of their mother, father and brother early in his life, and having to beg everyone for money and shelter made Viserys cruel and bitter. She clearly once had some affection for him as her only living blood relative, since, in tribute, she named her dragon Viserion after him.

"I’m the last hope of a dynasty, Mormont. The greatest dynasty this world has ever seen, on my shoulders since I was five years old, and no one has ever given me what they gave to her in that tent. Never. Not a piece of it. How can I carry what I need to carry without it, hmm? Who can rule without wealth or fear or love?"

"Oh, you stand there, all nobility and honor....you don't think I see you looking at my little sister, hmm? Don't think I know what you want? I don't care; you can have her. She can be Queen of the Savages and dine on the finest bloody horseparts, and you can dine on whichever parts of her you like."

"Before I came to power, you favored my brother. All your spies, your little birds, did they tell you Viserys was cruel, stupid and weak? Would those qualities have made for a good King, in your learned opinion?"

In the books

In A Song of Ice and Fire, Viserys is an ambitious, arrogant and power-hungry young man with a streak of cruelty and a famous temper, though he is occasionally affectionate towards his sister. The books give more detail in explaining just how much of a paper tiger Viserys is, and is largely consumed by delusions of grandeur. In the first chapter the Targaryens appear in, Viserys toys with a sword he borrowed from Illyrio while promising to kill Robert Baratheon in single combat. Daenerys notes to herself that Viserys has no idea how to use a sword, never owned his own sword, never had any kind of combat training, and is just a boy playing with a borrowed sword.

Nonetheless in the books, Daenerys still shows some sympathy for Viserys after his death, though she does not regret that Drogo ultimately executed him. Dany notes that while Viserys was weak, petty, and cruel, he had spent most of his life as a frightened refugee after his entire family was killed and his home taken away, and thus he was largely a product of his hard childhood on the run. At the least, he had managed to keep Daenerys alive during their life in exile.

Viserys once feasted the captains of the Golden Company, in hopes they might take up his cause. They ate his food and heard his pleas - and laughed at him.

In the fourth and fifth novels it is revealed that Ser Willem Darry and Doran Martell signed a secret pact of alliance between Dorne and House Targaryen in Braavos. The alliance was to be sealed by a marriage between Viserys and Princess Arianne Martell. Ser Willem never told Viserys (nor Daenerys) about the pact, thus Viserys died unaware it. When Daenerys learns about the pact many years later, she comments, knowing well how rash and impatient her brother was, that had he known about that - he would have crossed to Sunspear as soon as he was old enough to wed; thereby, he would have brought Robert’s warhammer down upon himself, and Dorne as well.

In the books, Viserys was about seven years old at the end of Robert's Rebellion, but in "A Golden Crown" Viserys states that he was five years old at the time, a rare instance of someone being aged down in the TV continuity.

Viserys is the only book character who ever addressed Daenerys as "Dany", and only on one occasion - when he begged her to stop Drogo from killing him.

According to the TV series official pronunciation guide developed for the cast and crew, "Viserys Targaryen" is pronounced "Vi-SAIR-iss Tar-GAIR-ee-in".